Staten Island Advance photoA fire hydrant was buried by more than a foot of snow on Garretson Avenue in Dongan Hills after a massive blizzard blanketed the Island in December 2010.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The city has begun to settle up with New Yorkers who were injured or saw their homes or vehicles damaged as a result of last winter's "Snowpocalypse," including members of a Staten Island family who suffered massive flooding.

The city has paid a total of $1.8 million to 620 claimants in the five boroughs, according to city Comptroller John Liu.

The Island, which got buried under 23 inches of snow, had the third-highest payout total in the city, with 75 claimants getting a total of $185,967.

Among those were members of a South Beach family whose homes took on up to four feet of water after a Sanitation snow-removal truck hit a hydrant near the South Beach Houses complex in the wake of the monster storm, unleashing a torrent of water.

Phyllis Terrusa, of Oberlin Street, got the highest payout on the Island, $15,000, because of the damage her home suffered when the water poured in.

Her daughter, Christine Terrusa-Cortez, who shares an attached home with her, received $13,500.

"It took a long time, but in the end the city settled," said Ms. Terrusa-Cortez.

She said her family lost their dryer, furnace and hot water heater to the flood, in addition to a valued comic book collection, videos and other items.

"You name it," she said. "The water came in from everywhere. Thank God the Fire Department came and pumped us out."

Ms. Terrusa and her family had to bunk with other family members for two days until a new furnace could be installed.

Then came a "massive cleanup" which included replacing floors throughout the house, she said.

"There was mud everywhere," said Ms. Terrusa-Cortez. "It was disgusting, horrible. Thank goodness the city settled."

"These claims are among the highest for any storm," Liu said of the citywide payouts. "There is still a cloud of additional claims hanging over the city, but the silver lining is that agencies have learned from last year's blizzard and seem better prepared."

Much of the money went to settle property damage claims to vehicles, and there were also some personal injury settlements related to car accidents with city vehicles and slip-and-falls.

Brooklyn was tops in payouts, with $856,737 in settlements.

A number of other claims are still under investigation by the city.

To improve snow removal when the next storm strikes, former city Sanitation commissioner Lucius Riccio has suggested that the Island, Queens and the Bronx have more Sanitation trucks assigned to them during major snow emergencies.

Riccio wrote in the Daily News that because Sanitation trucks are allocated to the boroughs according to the amount of refuse they pick up, Manhattan has far more trucks per street mile than the other boroughs, particularly when compared with Queens, the Bronx and the Island.

He said that Brooklyn, which has a good number of trucks as well, could share some of them with Island during snow emergencies.

He said the city could also hire private haulers to plow tough-to-reach spots on the Island and elsewhere.